Sharon Maas celebrates the diversity of publishing today because she’s been one the writers who has challenged the old formula.  Her early 20th century Quint family series set in her homeland of Guyana and based on her own family story of a white woman marrying a black man was not seen as “commercial.’

Hi, I’m your host Jenny Wheeler and today Sharon talks about how the decade of rejection she faced before she won through made her a better writer, and tells us about a magical day she spent with Muhammad Ali in Peru.

Six

things you’ll learn from this Joys of Binge Reading episode:

How Sharon got started in fictionHer extraordinary meeting Mudhammad AliWhy historical fiction gives her a thrillThe part meditation plays in her workOn re-writing a famous Indian mythHer advice for young writers: Follow your heart

Where to find Sharon Maas:

Website: https://www.sharonmaas.com/

Facebook: @sharonmaasauthor

 Twitter: @sharon_maas

What

follows is a "near as" transcript of our conversation, not word for

word but pretty close to it, with links to important mentions.

Jenny: But now, here’s Sharon.  Hello there Sharon and welcome to the show, it’s great to have you with us.

Sharon: Good morning Jenny. Good to be with you.

Jenny: And I think you're speaking from Germany are you?

Sharon: No, no. I moved to Ireland a year ago. I'm in Ireland now.

Jenny: Oh sorry I am not up to date. Perhaps there maybe a bit out of date information on the web. I'm not sure.

Sharon: Oh yes, Ireland's been a wonderful place to live.

Jenny: Okay. that's lovely. How did you get started writing in fiction? Was there a 'Once Upon a Time' moment for you when you felt you needed to write fiction or you wouldn't have achieved your purpose in life, so to speak.

What got her started writing

Sharon Maas Historic fiction author

Sharon: [00:00:51] Well I've always been a voracious reader and I always had this idea that maybe I could write something one day, but I just thought it just too much. I just can't do it. You know  it's too hard to figure out a plan and I can't do it.  I didn't feel up to it. 

I was writing when I was about eight or nine. I used to write children's stories about children with horses and dogs and having adventures. Enid Blyton was my favorite writer as a child. So I had this idea at the back of my mind but I just didn't feel have the confidence to get into it and to actually start. And so I was late in my late forties when I began thinking 'Oh maybe I could do it. Maybe I can write something myself.' I've read a book called Becoming a Writer by Dorothea Brand.

And she says the stories you want to tell are in us already. Deep down. They're made by the subconscious mind and we can access them if we make the effort. And that was like a 'light bulb' moment for me, because you know I meditate and I knew that there is something inside me which I can access. So that really kind of lifted me up and got me fired up. So I started when I was about 48.

Plotter or Pantser?

Jenny: And how did you choose what you were going to write. And I gather that you are more of a 'fly by the seat of your pants' writer?

Sharon: Oh absolutely.

Jenny: Did you approach it in that way with your first book, or how did you start off?

Sharon: I knew I wanted to write a book set in Gu...

Australian best seller Karen Brooks' latest book The Chocolate Maker's Wife is a historical thriller set in the time of King Charles II when chocolate was regarded as "sin in a bowl" and the commercial houses that served it were hotbeds of revolution. Damnation never tasted so sweet.

Hi there, I'm you host Jenny Wheeler and today Karen talks about the lush, fascinating world of Restoration London and of a beautiful woman drawn into a world of riches, power, intrigue - and chocolate.

And we've a paperback copy of Karen's captivating story of power , intrigue and greed for listener's to win in The Chocolate Maker's Wife Giveaway. You can enter the draw here or find it on Facebook. Entries close June 30.

Six things you’ll learn from this Joys of Binge Reading episode:

The friendship that inspired Karen to write fictionThree overlapping careers that have blessed her lifeHow she came to move to TasmaniaThe book that inspired a family breweryThe writers she admires mostThe challenge of being a high profile woman

Where to find Karen Brooks:

Website: https://karenrbrooks.com/

Facebook: @KarenBrooksAuthor

 Twitter: @KarenBrooksAU

What

follows is a "near as" transcript of our conversation, not word for

word but pretty close to it, with links to important mentions.

Jenny: [00:00:01] But now here's Karen. Hello there Karen

and welcome to the show. It's great to have you with us.

Karen: [00:00:08] Oh hi Jenny. Thank you so much for

having me.

Dr Karen Brooks, historic fiction author and columnist

Jenny: [00:00:12] And I just wanted to start by saying very reverently; Dr. Brooks. Because indeed you have Ph.D in Humanities and you are recognized in your home country of Australia as a weekly columnist and an expert on all sorts of controversial popular topics..

But you've also a wife and mother so you've got a very busy life apart from your writing. You've published twelve books beginning with fantasy and moving into  historical fiction. The $64 million question is: Beginning at the beginning was there a Once Upon A Time moment when you thought I've really got to write fiction or I will have just not done when I'm meant to do somehow.

Inspired by a friend

Karen: [00:01:04] I wish I had a story like that to tell.

I love it when authors say that they have always wanted to be a writer and they

wrote since they were out of the cot, but no, I never saw myself ever as a

writer.

I always write. I mean I think lots of kids do and as a teenager I kept diaries. All right, terrible lovelorn poems and messages of adulation to people I admired - political figures or actors and people like that.  I think it was my girlfriend becoming quite successful in her field as an author. That was Sara Douglass, the fantasy writer. It was a really aspirational moment for me and she really encouraged me.  

I'd written a couple of plays and one of them was performed in Sydney a few years earlier. And so again dabbling, dabbling, dabbling. But I kept saying 'I really should write a book one day' or 'I think I'll write a book' and basically I think Sara got absolutely sick of me going on about it and said "Oh for God's sakes just stop saying you're gonna do it and just do it."

[00:02:05] She had a few

expletives thrown in there, I'm being polite. She was a damn good friend. She

really was. So I thought 'yeah you're right.' And I just sat down one day and

basically did it.

Jenny: [00:02:16] Yes! 

You make it sound so easy!

Karen: [00:02:21] It was torturous! No, no, it actually

wasn't. It was a real pleasure but I was in my late 30's from memory. Yeah when

I wrote my first book.

The Great fire of London - artist's impression

The Chocolate Maker's Wife

Jenny: [00:02:29] The most recent one just out is The Chocolatemaker's Wife and it's a historical thriller set in the Restoration period. It's got the backdrop of Charles II  on the throne, and the Great Plague and the Great Fire of London.

Australian best seller Karen Brooks' latest book The Chocolate Maker's Wife is a historical thriller set in the time of King Charles II when chocolate was regarded as "sin in a bowl" and the commercial houses that served it were hotbeds of revolution. Damnation never tasted so sweet.

Hi there, I'm you host Jenny Wheeler and today Karen talks about the lush, fascinating world of Restoration London and of a beautiful woman drawn into a world of riches, power, intrigue - and chocolate.

And we've a paperback copy of Karen's captivating story of power , intrigue and greed for listener's to win in The Chocolate Maker's Wife Giveaway. You can enter the draw here or find it on Facebook. Entries close June 30.

Six things you’ll learn from this Joys of Binge Reading episode:

The friendship that inspired Karen to write fictionThree overlapping careers that have blessed her lifeHow she came to move to TasmaniaThe book that inspired a family breweryThe writers she admires mostThe challenge of being a high profile woman

Where to find Karen Brooks:

Website: https://karenrbrooks.com/

Facebook: @KarenBrooksAuthor

 Twitter: @KarenBrooksAU

What

follows is a "near as" transcript of our conversation, not word for

word but pretty close to it, with links to important mentions.

Jenny: [00:00:01] But now here's Karen. Hello there Karen

and welcome to the show. It's great to have you with us.

Karen: [00:00:08] Oh hi Jenny. Thank you so much for

having me.

Dr Karen Brooks, historic fiction author and columnist

Jenny: [00:00:12] And I just wanted to start by saying very reverently; Dr. Brooks. Because indeed you have Ph.D in Humanities and you are recognized in your home country of Australia as a weekly columnist and an expert on all sorts of controversial popular topics..

But you've also a wife and mother so you've got a very busy life apart from your writing. You've published twelve books beginning with fantasy and moving into  historical fiction. The $64 million question is: Beginning at the beginning was there a Once Upon A Time moment when you thought I've really got to write fiction or I will have just not done when I'm meant to do somehow.

Inspired by a friend

Karen: [00:01:04] I wish I had a story like that to tell.

I love it when authors say that they have always wanted to be a writer and they

wrote since they were out of the cot, but no, I never saw myself ever as a

writer.

I always write. I mean I think lots of kids do and as a teenager I kept diaries. All right, terrible lovelorn poems and messages of adulation to people I admired - political figures or actors and people like that.  I think it was my girlfriend becoming quite successful in her field as an author. That was Sara Douglass, the fantasy writer. It was a really aspirational moment for me and she really encouraged me.  

I'd written a couple of plays and one of them was performed in Sydney a few years earlier. And so again dabbling, dabbling, dabbling. But I kept saying 'I really should write a book one day' or 'I think I'll write a book' and basically I think Sara got absolutely sick of me going on about it and said "Oh for God's sakes just stop saying you're gonna do it and just do it."

[00:02:05] She had a few

expletives thrown in there, I'm being polite. She was a damn good friend. She

really was. So I thought 'yeah you're right.' And I just sat down one day and

basically did it.

Deanna Raybourn’s motto in life and writing is “expect the unexpected” - and her best-selling historical mysteries are the perfect expression of that – they are plotted with the intricacy of a symphony.

HI there I’m your host Jenny Wheeler, and today Deanna talks about writing for a very long time before she got published – and what she learned from that experience – and why we’ve totally misjudged Victorian women.

Six things you’ll learn from this Joys of Binge Reading episode:

Why Deanna finds the Victorians "comfortably exotic"Yes: First drafts "suck" - and that's OKWhy finishing the book is the only thing that countsHer long road to being publishedAnd why she wouldn't change a thing Where the sparky dialogue in her books comes from.

Where to find Deanna Raybourn:

Website: https://www.deannaraybourn.com/

 Twitter:@deannaraybourn

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/deannaraybourn

What

follows is a "near as" transcript of our conversation, not word for

word but pretty close to it, with links to important mentions.

Jenny: But now, here’s Deanna. .  Hello there Deanna and welcome to the show, it’s great to have you with us.

Deanna: [00:00:07] Hi Jenny. Thank you so much for having

me. I'm very excited to be on a podcast from across the world.

Reading and writing 'forever'

Deanna Raybourn - Mystery author

Jenny: [00:00:14] I know it's fun isn't it? Readers are always curious to know how authors got started writing fiction and I know you had quite a strong background in English literature before you started writing yourself. But was there a Once Upon A Time moment when you felt I must write fiction myself. And if so was there a catalyst for it?

Deanna: [00:00:40] No there absolutely wasn't. Because I honestly do not remember a time when I wasn't making up stories. I do distinctly remember being about three or four years old, - I'd learned to read pretty early - I was about four when I learned how to read - and I was so excited because I could finally make sense of all the signs that were on the streets and I could finally read my books by myself.

[00:01:05] Then I got really excited when I learned how to print because then I could start making up stories of my own. And I've been doing that ever since. I don't have any juvenilea. Like there's never gonna be a Jane Austen moment where I can publish things that I wrote when I was twelve years old. But I was always making things up. And so when I went to university I decided to double major in English and history because I knew I wanted to write historical fiction and that seemed like the most logical thing to do. It never occurred to me to major in Creative Writing but I went for English and and history and it's served me pretty well.

Jenny: [00:01:46] It's amazing that so young you actually

already knew the genre that you wanted to work in.

A 'hideous' first novel at 23

The Dark Enquiry # 5 in Lady Julia series

Deanna: [00:01:53] Well you know I think it was it was

borne out of wanting to write what I love to read. And so because I loved

historical fiction it just it made sense to me. 

I sat down and wrote my first novel when I was 23. I had just finished

my first year of teaching high school and during summer break I sat down and

wrote a novel. I think it took me seven weeks and it was 120,000 words. I have

never in my life written that fast before or since. And it was hideous. It was

a hideous experience, but I got addicted to the whole idea of starting a story

and seeing it through to the end and finishing it.

Jenny: [00:02:37] Yeah. That is impressive - 120,00 words

in seven weeks for sure.

Deanna: [00:02:42] Oh it's insane. It's insane.

Jenny: [00:02:47] And you've done your historical mysteries, though with a little bit of a twist, because right from the beginning you included a romantic subplot and the meshing of two separate genres. And I just wondered.

Deanna Raybourn’s motto in life and writing is “expect the unexpected” - and her best-selling historical mysteries are the perfect expression of that – they are plotted with the intricacy of a symphony.

HI there I’m your host Jenny Wheeler, and today Deanna talks about  writing for a very long time before she got published – and what she learned from that experience – and why we’ve totally misjudged Victorian women.

Six things you’ll learn from this Joys of Binge Reading episode:

Why Deanna finds the Victorians "comfortably exotic"Yes: First drafts "suck" - and that's OKWhy finishing the book is the only thing that countsHer long road to being publishedAnd why she wouldn't change a thing Where the sparky dialogue in her books comes from.

Where to find Deanna Raybourn:

Website: https://www.deannaraybourn.com/

 Twitter:@deannaraybourn

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/deannaraybourn

What

follows is a "near as" transcript of our conversation, not word for

word but pretty close to it, with links to important mentions.

Jenny: But now, here’s Deanna. .  Hello there Deanna and welcome to the show, it’s great to have you with us.

Deanna: [00:00:07] Hi Jenny. Thank you so much for having

me. I'm very excited to be on a podcast from across the world.

Reading and writing 'forever'

Deanna Raybourn - Mystery author

Jenny: [00:00:14] I know it's fun isn't it? Readers are always curious to know how authors got started writing fiction and I know you had quite a strong background in English literature before you started writing yourself. But was there a Once Upon A Time moment when you felt I must write fiction myself. And if so was there a catalyst for it?

Deanna: [00:00:40] No there absolutely wasn't. Because I honestly do not remember a time when I wasn't making up stories. I do distinctly remember being about three or four years old, - I'd learned to read pretty early - I was about four when I learned how to read - and I was so excited because I could finally make sense of all the signs that were on the streets and I could finally read my books by myself.

[00:01:05] Then I got really excited when I learned how to print because then I could start making up stories of my own. And I've been doing that ever since. I don't have any juvenilea. Like there's never gonna be a Jane Austen moment where I can publish things that I wrote when I was twelve years old. But I was always making things up. And so when I went to university I decided to double major in English and history because I knew I wanted to write historical fiction and that seemed like the most logical thing to do. It never occurred to me to major in Creative Writing but I went for English and and history and it's served me pretty well.

Jenny: [00:01:46] It's amazing that so young you actually

already knew the genre that you wanted to work in.

A 'hideous' first novel at 23

The Dark Enquiry # 5 in Lady Julia series

Deanna: [00:01:53] Well you know I think it was it was

borne out of wanting to write what I love to read. And so because I loved

historical fiction it just it made sense to me. 

I sat down and wrote my first novel when I was 23. I had just finished

my first year of teaching high school and during summer break I sat down and

wrote a novel. I think it took me seven weeks and it was 120,000 words. I have

never in my life written that fast before or since. And it was hideous. It was

Soraya Lane has an impressive backlist in contemporary romance, but she’s

hitting  the Kindle best seller lists

with her most recently published work, World War II fiction centered on women’s

stories.

Hi there, I’m your host Jenny Wheeler, and today Soraya talks about the

road to being a successful international author and why she’s not going to

apologise for treating writing as a business.

Six

things you’ll learn from this Joys of Binge Reading episode:

How many novels Soraya finished before she sold oneWriting Montana romance from New ZealandHow her passion for horses helped write romanceOn being a workaholic and (usually) loving itWhat its like to be international best seller unknown at homeOn doing law and them discovering she didn't want to be a lawyer!

Where to find Soraya M Lane:

Website: www.sorayalane.com

Facebook:  facebook.com/SorayaLaneAuthor

 Twitter: @soraya_lane

Instagram: @sorayalaneauthor 

What

follows is a "near as" transcript of our conversation, not word for

word but pretty close to it, with links to important mentions.

Jenny: [00:00:00] And now here Soraya. Hi there Soraya.

And welcome to the show. It's great to have you with us.

Soraya: [00:00:07] It's wonderful to be here. Thank you

for asking me.

How Soraya got started

Soraya M Lane Amazon best selling author

Jenny: [00:00:10] Beginning at the beginning was there a

Once Upon a Time moment that got you started in writing and was there any sort

of catalyst for it.

Soraya: [00:00:22] Look I don't know if there was a

specific catalyst for it. I've always been a huge reader and I've probably been

a writer all my life really, from when I was first at school. I came up with

these wonderful stories that I used to share with my teachers. So I think I've

just always enjoyed writing and always loved reading. I think sometimes if

you're a very keen reader the next step often is to try and write something

yourself. And so I started. I found my way into writing again when I was at

university and just thought 'I actually want to do this.' I want to see my

books on the shelf with my name on there. And I just started and went from

there.

Jenny: [00:01:00] Fantastic. Well you've now got an

extremely impressive list of contemporary romance to your name, as well as the

historical fiction we'll be talking about. You've been writing pretty solidly

since university?

Soraya: [00:01:14] I started writing quite seriously

actually, writing my first full length novel when I was at university. I was

probably around 19 or 20 and it took me two years to write that first book. So

I had been writing for a long time. I sold my first book when I was pregnant

with my first child. And I was 27 then. So I have been I had been writing for a

little while now. I guess I've been published for about nine years.

Jenny: [00:01:38] Fantastic. So you've now got a really

impressive list of contemporary romance nearly 30 books that counted on your

website. And we'll talk about that contemporary romance a little later. But the

most recent books are branching out into historical fiction and they've been

doing particularly well. Both Wives of War and The Spitfire Girls have been

Amazon  charters and Kindle  best sellers. Now they are World War Two

historical fiction. Tell us why you made that change?

Switching from romance to history

Wives of War - Soraya M Lane

Soraya: [00:02:13] Oh look, it was it's something that

sort of came about organically in the end. I mean I still love writing

contemporary romance but I actually went back to university and did an MFA so a

Master of Fine Arts and Creative Writing at the University of Canterbury and I

went back there and thought I need to challenge myself and write something

different.

[00:02:31] And I'd had

this idea for a historical World War II story for quite some time and I thought

you know this is this is the chance. This is the time for me to to really

Soraya Lane has an impressive backlist in contemporary romance, but she’s

hitting  the Kindle best seller lists

with her most recently published work, World War II fiction centered on women’s

stories.

Hi there, I’m your host Jenny Wheeler, and today Soraya talks about the

road to being a successful international author and why she’s not going to

apologise for treating writing as a business.

Six

things you’ll learn from this Joys of Binge Reading episode:

How many novels Soraya finished before she sold oneWriting Montana romance from New ZealandHow her passion for horses helped write romanceOn being a workaholic and (usually) loving itWhat its like to be international best seller unknown at homeOn doing law and them discovering she didn't want to be a lawyer!

Where to find Soraya M Lane:

Website: www.sorayalane.com

Facebook:  facebook.com/SorayaLaneAuthor

 Twitter: @soraya_lane

Instagram: @sorayalaneauthor 

What

follows is a "near as" transcript of our conversation, not word for

word but pretty close to it, with links to important mentions.

Jenny: [00:00:00] And now here Soraya. Hi there Soraya.

And welcome to the show. It's great to have you with us.

Soraya: [00:00:07] It's wonderful to be here. Thank you

for asking me.

How Soraya got started

Soraya M Lane Amazon best selling author

Jenny: [00:00:10] Beginning at the beginning was there a

Once Upon a Time moment that got you started in writing and was there any sort

of catalyst for it.

Soraya: [00:00:22] Look I don't know if there was a

specific catalyst for it. I've always been a huge reader and I've probably been

a writer all my life really, from when I was first at school. I came up with

these wonderful stories that I used to share with my teachers. So I think I've

just always enjoyed writing and always loved reading. I think sometimes if

you're a very keen reader the next step often is to try and write something

yourself. And so I started. I found my way into writing again when I was at

university and just thought 'I actually want to do this.' I want to see my

books on the shelf with my name on there. And I just started and went from

there.

Jenny: [00:01:00] Fantastic. Well you've now got an

extremely impressive list of contemporary romance to your name, as well as the

historical fiction we'll be talking about. You've been writing pretty solidly

since university?

Soraya: [00:01:14] I started writing quite seriously

actually, writing my first full length novel when I was at university. I was

probably around 19 or 20 and it took me two years to write that first book. So

I had been writing for a long time. I sold my first book when I was pregnant

with my first child. And I was 27 then. So I have been I had been writing for a

little while now. I guess I've been published for about nine years.

Jenny: [00:01:38] Fantastic. So you've now got a really

impressive list of contemporary romance nearly 30 books that counted on your

website. And we'll talk about that contemporary romance a little later. But the

most recent books are branching out into historical fiction and they've been

doing particularly well. Both Wives of War and The Spitfire Girls have been

Amazon  charters and Kindle  best sellers. Now they are World War Two

historical fiction. Tell us why you made that change?

Chanel Cleeton’s two richly imagined dual time stories of Cuban America are break through best sellers, with the first, Next Year in Havana, a Reese Witherspoon Book Club choice. But Chanel’s put in a full apprenticeship writing contemporary romance before she enjoyed “overnight success.”

 Hi there I’m your host Jenny Wheeler, and today Chanel talks about the family history behind her books and how a note on a CIA file inspired the plot for her most recent book, When We Left Cuba.

Six

things you’ll learn from this Joys of Binge Reading episode:

Why Chanel switched from romance to historical fictionHow 'being a Reese Witherspoon choice' worked for herHow writing the book changed her appreciation of familyWhy she thinks 'luck' is an important factor in her career2019 - a great year for new booksHow law school 'drove' her to writing

Where to find Chanel Cleeton:

Website: www.chanelcleeton.com

Facebook: @AuthorChanelCleeton

 Twitter: @chanelcleeton

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chanelcleeton/

What

follows is a "near as" transcript of our conversation, not word for

word but pretty close to it, with links to important mentions.

Jenny: Hello there Chanel and welcome to the show it’s great to have you with us.J

Chanel: [00:00:06] Thank you so much for having me. I'm

thrilled to be here.

Meeting author Chanel Cleeton

Jenny: [00:00:10]  I can see from reading the two Cuban books and looking online at some of your other work, that you might feel a little bit like one of those people who is now described as an "overnight success." Because the Cuban books have really taken center stage. The first one of them Next Year in Havana became a Reese Witherspoon book club choice. But you've done a lot of writing before those books. So it's one of those cases of "many years  work" to become an "overnight success." Is that right?

Chanel Cleeton - author

Chanel: [00:00:48] Yes. I had written about 10 contemporary

romances before I published Next Year in Havana. So definitely I had been

writing for a bit, but I still just feel very fortunate about how everyone's

embraced the books and really; just been so supportive.

Jenny: [00:01:03] Yes. You're a New York Times and a USA

Today bestselling author. You've also got an impressive academic record. But if

we went back to the beginning, was there a 

"Once Upon a Time" moment when you decided that you wanted to write

fiction? And if so what was the catalyst for it?

Chanel: [00:01:25] I think law school was really probably

one of the driving factors in me deciding to write fiction. I will be honest. I

didn't really enjoy it very much and 

realized it wasn't a good fit for me. It wasn't what I wanted to do with

my life. And I started thinking about the things that I was most passionate

about and while I'd never really considered being a writer I've always been a

really big reader.

[00:01:46] I mean there's

not a time in my life that I can remember not having a book in my hands and I

really just thought about how amazing it would be to have a career where I

would get to work with books in any capacity. So I really just started taking

it more seriously and I wrote a manuscript and was really fortunate that

everything was able to come together.

Jenny: [00:02:09] That's fantastic. You've mentioned

you've written 10 contemporary romances and I think they're arranged in two

sets of trilogies, aren't they? There's one called Wild Aces which is about men

who fly airplanes. Then there's Capital Confessions and International Schools.

And also one romantic suspense novel. So what made you decide to switch to do

dual timeline historic fiction?

Romance to historical fiction

Chanel Cleeton romance

Chanel: [00:02:36] I was really at a crossroads in my

career as you mentioned, you know. I'd written quite a few romances and I was

really thinking as a reader about the different types of genres that I enjoyed

Chanel Cleeton’s two richly imagined dual time stories of Cuban America are break through best sellers, with the first, Next Year in Havana, a Reese Witherspoon Book Club choice. But Chanel’s put in a full apprenticeship writing contemporary romance before she enjoyed “overnight success.”

 Hi there I’m your host Jenny Wheeler, and today Chanel talks about the family history behind her books and how a note on a CIA file inspired the plot for her most recent book, When We Left Cuba.

Six

things you’ll learn from this Joys of Binge Reading episode:

Why Chanel switched from romance to historical fictionHow 'being a Reese Witherspoon choice' worked for herHow writing the book changed her appreciation of familyWhy she thinks 'luck' is an important factor in her career2019 - a great year for new booksHow law school 'drove' her to writing

Where to find Chanel Cleeton:

Website: www.chanelcleeton.com

Facebook: @AuthorChanelCleeton

 Twitter: @chanelcleeton

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chanelcleeton/

What

follows is a "near as" transcript of our conversation, not word for

word but pretty close to it, with links to important mentions.

Jenny: Hello there Chanel and welcome to the show it’s great to have you with us.J

Chanel: [00:00:06] Thank you so much for having me. I'm

thrilled to be here.

Meeting author Chanel Cleeton

Jenny: [00:00:10]  I can see from reading the two Cuban books and looking online at some of your other work, that you might feel a little bit like one of those people who is now described as an "overnight success." Because the Cuban books have really taken center stage. The first one of them Next Year in Havana became a Reese Witherspoon book club choice. But you've done a lot of writing before those books. So it's one of those cases of "many years  work" to become an "overnight success." Is that right?

Chanel Cleeton - author

Chanel: [00:00:48] Yes. I had written about 10 contemporary

romances before I published Next Year in Havana. So definitely I had been

writing for a bit, but I still just feel very fortunate about how everyone's

embraced the books and really; just been so supportive.

Jenny: [00:01:03] Yes. You're a New York Times and a USA

Today bestselling author. You've also got an impressive academic record. But if

we went back to the beginning, was there a 

"Once Upon a Time" moment when you decided that you wanted to write

fiction? And if so what was the catalyst for it?

Chanel: [00:01:25] I think law school was really probably

one of the driving factors in me deciding to write fiction. I will be honest. I

didn't really enjoy it very much and 

realized it wasn't a good fit for me. It wasn't what I wanted to do with

my life. And I started thinking about the things that I was most passionate

about and while I'd never really considered being a writer I've always been a

really big reader.

[00:01:46] I mean there's

not a time in my life that I can remember not having a book in my hands and I

really just thought about how amazing it would be to have a career where I

would get to work with books in any capacity. So I really just started taking

it more seriously and I wrote a manuscript and was really fortunate that

everything was able to come together.

Jenny: [00:02:09] That's fantastic. You've mentioned

you've written 10 contemporary romances and I think they're arr...

Rebecca Rosenberg’s fascination with women who challenge convention has led her to write historical novels celebrating glorious women of past days – Charmian London, the unsung collaborator of writer Jack London’s work, and Baby Doe Tabor, once the richest woman in America.

Hi there I’m your host Jenny Wheeler and today Rebecca talks about losing everything in last year’s California’s fires, how writing helped her pull through, and her latest project, the story of the five remarkable widows who created Champagne. That's right . . Bubbles, the drink.

Six

things you’ll learn from this Joys of Binge Reading episode:

Recovering from the disastrous California firesHow 'writing preserves her equilibriumThe remarkable women she writes aboutFun places to visit from her booksThe secret of her successWhat she'd do differently second time around

Where to find Rebecca Rosenberg:

Website: http://rebeccarosenberg.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rebeccarosenbergnovels/

Goodreads:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7652050.Rebecca_Rosenberg

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/rebecca-rosenberg

What

follows is a "near as" transcript of our conversation, not word for

word but pretty close to it, with links to important mentions.

Jenny: But now, here’s Rebecca. .  Hello there Rebecca and welcome to the show, it’s great to have you with us.

Rebecca: [00:01:48]

Hi Jenny. I'm so excited to be here. I can't believe you're all the way

in Auckland and I'm in California. That's amazing.

Rebecca Rosenberg - Historical author

Jenny: [00:01:56] I know, and not just in California but on a lavender farm in California. That conjures up all sorts of wonderful images for me. And I'm just wondering what stage are you at with the farm at the moment? Are the bushes in bloom at the moment?

Rebecca: [00:02:10]

Ok so this is a crazy story, but our house and the entire farm burnt down

in those big California fires.

Jenny: [00:02:21] Oh

gosh Wow…. No . . ..

Rebecca: [00:02:24]

So that was pretty devastating. We have five acres of lavender and we

have a beautiful big lavender painted barn - or we used to have.

But every single thing burnt to the ground. Everything. Our house was actually made out of brick and tile and stone, but even it is down to the ground.

Rising from the ashes . . .

Rebecca and husband Gary in their lavender fields - before the fire....

But the good news is that we are replanting this month. So I

am so excited and I am going to share pictures of that because it's just

thrilling to be planting the lavender again.

Jenny: [00:03:03] My goodness I didn't pick up on that on your blog! I've can't have been looking closely enough! That's a big thing to go through isn't it?

Rebecca: [00:03:12] It has been a crazy year I've looked in five rental houses. It's been a lot but we're at this point where the house will be finished in September and our lavender field is going to take a whole new shape. I'm so excited. Instead of regular rows, we're doing concentric circles. Can you believe that? So it's gonna be fun to try something new.

Jenny: [00:03:41] You probably haven't had much time to devote to your books, but turning to the writing, was there once upon a time moment when you decided that you wanted to write fiction? And if so was there a catalyst for it.

Rebecca: [00:03:55] The catalyst was that my girlfriend and I decided, let's see, that was about 12 years ago. We decided that we would write novels together. And actually, this book that's coming out this month, Gold Digger, The Remarkable Baby Doe Tabor. was the book that I started writing 12 years ago. It was a fun thing that we did. We would meet every week and read our scenes and we just started that way.

And then I got hooked on it and started taking all sorts of

writing classes and going away for weekend workshops.

Falling in love with writing

The Secret Life of Mrs London